ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's squash team will have its first opportunity to move up the national rankings on Saturday, when it opens the home portion of its schedule with matches against Columbia at 10 a.m. and Virginia at 6 p.m. at Belkin International Squash Courts.
 
Cornell (2-0) opened its season with a pair of dominant 9-0 victories two weeks ago at the Williams Round Robin. The Big Red opened by sweeping the host Ephs on the first day, then sailed past Dickinson the next morning.
 
In its Ivy League opener against the Lions, the Big Red will take on its neighbor in the College Squash Association's national rankings. Cornell is currently ranked eighth, which would amount to the final berth in the season-ending Howe Cup, while Columbia sits in seventh.
 
The teams actually flip-flopped into those current positions in the CSA's preseason rankings (which are based on coaches votes), even though Cornell won both of its meetings against Columbia last season by identical scores of 6-3. The latter result came in the seventh-place match at the Howe Cup, allowing the Big Red to finish in sixth or seventh in the national rankings in each of the last nine years. It also improved Cornell's all-time record against Columbia to 8-1. Columbia (3-0) has opened this season with a pair of sweeps over NYU and Franklin & Marshall bookending a 6-3 decision against ninth-ranked Drexel.
 
Virginia is in its inaugural season at the varsity level, having seen steady progression as a club program all the way up the 13th in the final national rankings in 2017. The Cavaliers continue to hold that position after a 2-2 record start, though they will also take on George Washington on Tuesday night and Columbia at 2 p.m. Saturday before their match with the Big Red. This will be the first-ever meeting between Cornell and Virginia.